Chapter 1635: The Water Ghost Horde in the Night Rain

After nightfall, Bad-Eye Barley lost all trace of himself in the city, so their actions must be swift.

The Witch's cruise ship did not enter Dahu; once the vessel was moored, a small steamboat was lowered, and then Xia De and Megan—she had returned to her former self—boarded it to enter the lake. After spotting the cruise ship from a distance, its cabins mostly unlit, they abandoned the boat and waded through the water toward the vessel.

Had it not been for the heavy rain, Green Lake under the night sky would surely have been beautiful. But since it was raining, Xia De had no mood to admire the scenery.

According to Paradise Island Pharmaceuticals' preliminary investigation, during Bad-Eye Barley's absence from the ship, only the minimum number of sailors required to maintain normal operations remained aboard the drifting cruise ship on Green Lake. When Xia De and Megan leaped onto the deck, they found the situation exactly as imagined.

In this rainy weather, the sailors were either resting in their own cabins or gathered together chatting and playing cards. Since they were all in enclosed rooms, this time Megan used "Durt's Coma Draught," a highly volatile sleeping potion.

The potion's effect was excellent; after Xia De tossed it through the cabin door on the deck, they waited only five minutes before Megan signaled Xia De that they could enter:

"Drink the antidote first; this potion lasts a long time. Although you can resist the toxin of the mist on Central Island, you should have some resistance to this draught as well, but caution is still preferable."

On such a large ship, the only areas worth searching were Bad-Eye Barley's own quarters and the captain's cabin; the latter might contain the ship's navigation logs. Xia De and Megan both suspected this ship had also transported supplies for "that Mr." on the island.

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They arrived first at the captain's cabin, where four men lay unconscious beside a card table. The table was littered with playing cards, wine glasses, and various expensive liquors; it seemed Bad-Eye Barley treated his subordinates well.

And indeed, the navigation logs were here, properly stored in waterproof oiled paper.

Xia De pulled out the two most recent logs, one for himself and one for Megan. After flipping through a few pages, both almost simultaneously found a clue:

"It says—after opening the passage, we formally entered the island. Cargo was unloaded at the dock."

This brief record explained an important fact:

"There is a passage on the lake? Leading to another island we cannot see and have never heard of? Indeed, the place where Bad-Eye Barley unloaded cargo for the past twenty years was not Green Lake's Central Island!"

Xia De was quite excited by this discovery, while Megan sighed softly and said to Xia De:

"Continuing our afternoon topic about the other island: do you remember when we first landed on the island and accidentally encountered spatial distortion, meeting tentacles and other monsters in the thick fog? At that time, based on my father's few scattered words before his death, I guessed they came from another dimension, from another island."

"Please explain in detail."

"There is absolutely only one island in Green Lake. But on the reverse side of normal space, on the 'back' of that island, there exists another island like a twin brother. I cannot determine how that hidden island on the 'back' appeared; perhaps it is a natural phenomenon, or perhaps the work of my Thirteen-Ring ancestor. But the secrets should all lie on that back island."

Xia De asked:

"Including the doors corresponding to those keys?"

Megan pressed her lips together and nodded:

"I'm not certain, but it's highly likely. I have never been to the other island, but before I met you, when I landed on the island alone, due to an unexpected bodily condition, I fell asleep on the island and saw that door in my dream. That is why I said I might not be able to take you to see that door, but next time we can try to enter the dream together while sleeping on the island."

This technique of entering dreams together was also practiced by the Doctor; Xia De had even undertaken multiple dream adventures with the Doctor using this method. Of course, entering dreams together requires mutual trust between both parties, which is actually a very stringent requirement.

"Could the mist on the island also be surging forth from the other island? Was the disaster years ago that destroyed Green Lake Town actually a connection formed between that island and the real island?"

Xia De formed a new hypothesis, but Megan only shook her head:

"I actually know very little about that island; only after seeing Bad-Eye Barley's documents and the navigation logs here today did I fully confirm this matter. The world is truly miraculous; even if one claims to possess knowledge and wisdom, one does not necessarily know everything."

"The Wise One may not know, but I do not believe even this captain would not know how to enter the other island."

Xia De looked at the man wearing a captain's hat lying beside the table; of course, judging his identity was not only due to the hat, but also because of the photograph in the frame kept in the captain's cabin.

"Mr. Watson, I must trouble you to carry him away. I want to take him back for interrogation. If that Thirteen-Ring Diviner used contracts or similar methods to bind anyone from revealing information, then our forced questioning could lead to very serious consequences."

Megan said this very rationally, and Xia De nodded:

"No problem, but let's go to Bad-Eye Barley's room first. I am not very familiar with cruise ships; where are the best rooms generally located on such ships?"

"Upstairs, we..."

The female sorceress suddenly froze, then looked outside:

"Someone is coming; the warning ritual I set up on the deck just now has been triggered."

"It couldn't be the 【Mirror Society】 again, could it?"

"Let's go out and see."

Megan said, pulling up the hood over her head, while Xia De lifted the captain and followed behind her.

Moving from the dry cabin to the deck, the violent wind and rain made it feel as though two different spaces were separated by a single door, clearly two different worlds.

An invisible field expanded, shielding Megan and Xia De from the rain. Looking again at the deck, the defensive measures had indeed been triggered, but what appeared at the edge of the deck were not humans, but water ghosts that had just climbed up.

In the rainy darkness, it hunched its waist, its fish-like face making a ferocious expression, while its finned human back assumed a posture ready to attack.

At the same time, hands covered in fish scales appeared at the edge of the deck, followed by more water ghosts attempting to climb onto the deck.

The deck was still at a certain height above the water; Xia De could only imagine that hundreds or thousands of water ghosts had stacked together to "push" the topmost water ghost to a position where it could reach the deck. This was not an accidental encounter with water ghost harassment; this was definitely a deliberate attack.

"Are there so many water ghosts in Green Lake... I understand now, they are hiding in the waters of the other island."

Xia De suddenly realized this, and thus thought of more things:

"The batch of water ghosts the Church regularly disposes of every year, could they have been deliberately released to confuse the situation?"

"Oh, I hate undead the most."

Megan and Xia De stood back-to-back to prevent being attacked from both front and rear. Xia De had already drawn the yellow moonlight greatsword, its clear golden light flashing brilliantly and luxuriously in the rainy night:

"Miss Apothecary, do you understand Corpse Explosion, especially Chain Corpse Explosion?"

He still remembered that during the group mission when spatial distortion transported them to a seaside island, Priest Augustus had used "Chain Corpse Explosion" to eliminate a large number of enemies.

"First, I hate the power of the undead; second, Corpse Explosion works very poorly on undead controlled by others; third, do you want the people in the city to hear the sounds from here?"

Megan said, feeling the heat radiating from her back. The feeling of having someone to rely on left her somewhat at a loss, yet she felt a secret joy in her heart.

"Controlled by someone? Let's deal with these things first. Miss Apothecary, try not to move; I will handle it."

He still remembered that although the Witch's condition had recovered somewhat, it was not particularly good.

"But..."

"I will do it; you should still have this much trust in me."

"Very well, I will handle enemies that are very close."

Xia De dropped the captain at his feet, and while he and Megan were speaking, the first wave of water ghosts had already reached the deck. Xia De did not immediately launch an attack; instead, he pointed his finger toward four evenly spaced positions around the two of them:

"Summon Great Snowballs!"

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Four dull, heavy thuds rang out in succession, and even the deck groaned in protest. Then, pitch-black chains of the Great Sin shot from Xia De's sleeves, piercing through four snowballs in turn before forming a square that imprisoned the two of them:

"Thorns of the Moon!"

Glowing red, silver, and yellow thorn thickets in the rainy night burrowed up from beneath the deck, densely entangling the Great Sin chains that bore five runes.

Because the "Thorns of the Moon" were being used in a non-enclosed space, the thorn thickets' sealing ability was somewhat weaker, but it was still enough to block the first wave of approaching undead.

After setting up the protection, Xia De formally began his counterattack:

"Moonlight — Slash!"

This time he did not deliberately hold back. Brilliant silver arcs of light flew from his hands one after another. Because all the enemies were on the same water surface, the streaks of light flying parallel to the deck could each slice the water ghosts coming from an entire direction clean in two.

Green Lake on the rainy night was not at all peaceful, carrying a kind of spine-chilling loneliness. And on the yacht with lights on the lake surface, moonlight swept ceaselessly toward three directions; not a single water ghost could withstand Xia De's moonlight.

If the water ghosts were only at this level, then no matter how many there were, it would only be a waste of time. But very soon, the entire ship was already surrounded on all sides by water ghosts of unknown origin. Megan sensed something was wrong faster than Xia De:

"The boat is rocking—no, it's sinking. The water ghosts have holed the ship!"

This boat wasn't theirs anyway, so even if it sank it had nothing to do with them. But fighting the water ghost horde on the ship versus fighting hundreds or thousands of water ghosts in the water were completely different battles. Xia De knew they could not keep dragging this out; they had to leave here as soon as possible:

"Are your followers ready?"